Prometheus 6

TAMPA -- A man who spent 10 years too many behind bars because of a judge's sentencing error walked free yesterday into the arms of his family.

Leonard Brown, 47, spent more than half his life behind bars after a judge wrongly sentenced him to 99 years on a robbery conviction that should have brought him a 15-year term instead.

A fellow inmate who once worked for a law firm discovered the error in Brown's file last year and helped him get it into court.

''I thank God for setting me free," Brown said. ''I thank my family for sticking by me all these years, especially my mom."

Brown was involved in two robberies in 1981 and was charged with armed robbery, attempted murder, attempted robbery, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors later acknowledged that Brown wasn't carrying a gun, and in a plea deal the charges were reduced to indicate that he was unarmed.

He was sentenced to a year in the county jail, but within weeks of his release, he was charged with violating his probation by writing a bad check.

Brown found himself back in court and facing Circuit Judge Harry Lee Coe III, known for dishing out tough sentences. He gave Brown 30 years in prison for attempted murder, 15 years for aggravated battery, five years for attempted robbery -- and 99 years for armed robbery. But Brown had pleaded guilty to robbery -- not armed robbery -- which made the 99-year sentence illegal.

Prosecutors said that with good behavior and other considerations, Brown should have been released years ago. His lawyer, Darryl Rouson, said Department of Corrections records indicate the other sentences ended in 1996.